I guess I should inform you all about my experience in Sevilla... but before that I am going to reflect....
I have decided that I should just accept that fact that a trip for me can never go smoothly. As I stroll down memory lane I notice a number of trips gone wrong. There was the time when my family was in Maryland and our pontoon boat ran out of gas in the middle of the Chesapeake bay. Then there was the time when my family's van broke down in Belle Fourche, South Dakota. And as I have informed you recently, there was the fiasco of trying to get to Porto, Portugal. Well now I can add Sevilla to my collection of travel nightmares. I do not what problem I have. For some reason no trip can go smoothly. I can only be thankful that nothing horribly bad has happened. Anyways time to tell my story.....
It all started out fine. I woke up on time, met my friends on time, and made it to the airport in Santiago with plenty of time to spare. It was an early flight, but I was so excited that I did not mind having to wake up early. The flight was great. It was short and I managed to sleep during most of it. We then arrived in Sevilla and headed for the bus. We got off at the last bus stop, close to the center of the city, and started to make our way towards the hostel. This almost sounds too easy, right? Right. We got lost. We somehow ended up in the opposite direction and decided to give in and take a taxi to the hostel. Think things would be alright there? You're wrong. They did not have our reservation. Well we had some luck (hard to believe, right?) and the room we apparently did not reserve was still open. We then went up to our room and settled in and it was actually a very nice hostel(the Living Roof, in case you want to know of a place to stay in Sevilla).
Once we had everything all set in our room we decided to venture out into the beautiful city of Sevilla. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and everything was perfect... but not for long. We found our way to the cathedral (incredible) and admired its beauty. While gazing at the fine details of the architecture, a woman approached me. Being my naive self, I thought that this woman was all good. Wrong, wrong, very wrong. First she gave me a plant (thank you! but I'm going to throw this away once you leave), then she started reading my palm (ok, this is weird), then she grabbed my other hand (this is getting annoying), and then she started asking me for five euros (oh no woman, you just crossed a line). When I told her that I did not have any money (no way I'm paying for that), she started shaking her hand at me and saying "FIVE, FIVE." I finally gave her two euro so she would leave me alone.
^^^My friend managed to capture the moment
So yeah, basically I was off to a bad start. I also like to think that is when the curse of bad luck began.
^^^La Catedral
^Geovanni, Meghan, Sarah, and I at lunch
One aspect of Sevilla that fascinated me was the orange trees throughout the city. I also think of Oranges growing in some tropical place or in the countryside of Spain, but apparently they grow right in the city as well. One thing you should know is that the Oranges are not for eating. They are very bitter, and usually the only people you see eating them are clueless tourists, as a tour guide told me. After the moment by the Cathedral we went and got lunch. We ate outside and were sitting under an orange tree. We then got to experience gravity and an orange managed to fall and hit my friend Meghan (this is only a small part of our misfortunes).
^Alcazar
After lunch we visited the Palace Alcazar. It's amazing. I love the Moorish architecture and the mix between Christian and Moorish. Unfortunately, Sarah's camera broke there (the bad luck continues!). Then we participated in a free walking tour of Sevilla. During the tour a received a call from my friend Becky, who went to Edgewood with me, and made plans to meet up. I managed to find my way to our meeting spot and she then showed me around Sevilla and took to the Plaza de Espana and all I can say is wow. It has to be one of the most beautiful buildings I have seen in Spain so far. After that we met up with my friend and roommate from Loras, Cole. We all then went out for dinner (paella) which was delicious. I then returned to the hostel and to my dismay, I realized that I lost 20 euro (another small bump in the road). I eventually forgot about my petty problem when I heard about the situation of Geovanni. While he was relaxing at the hostel, he discovered that his return flight was not until March (Ah, the curse!). After a period of laughing hysterically at the fact that nothing can go right for us (we were also exhausted), we decided that the best solution was to go get some wine. Unfortunately you can't buy wine from the supermarket past 10, so we went to the next best place, Burger King (the best Spanish cuisine, of course).
^^^Plaza de Espana
^^^Star Wars was filmed here
The next day just continued this epic adventure. We were going on a trip to visit Granada. We decided that the best way to get there was by renting a car. To rent a car in Spain you need to be 21 year old, and being the only one who is 21, the car rental was in my name. The fun thing about Europe is that most cars are manual, and I have no idea how to drive manual. Luckily, Sarah knows how to drive stick, so we had nothing to worry about. Well, unfortunately Sarah could not start the car, so we had to go ask the woman who gave us the car what we needed to do. This meant that I had to sit in the driver's seat because I was the one supposed to be driving. I have no idea how to start a manual, so I was basically sitting there clueless. The woman looked terrified, I think she was wondering why she let some young Americans rents a car. When she asked me if I knew how to drive manual, all I could say was "Clutch? Clutch!" By the grace of God, I managed to start the car and the woman then left us so we could embark on our journey. We and Sarah swapped seats and made our way to the streets of Sevilla. BUT WAIT, we got lost. Big suprise. After an hour of driving aimlessly around Sevilla, we found the highway we needed to be on and made our way to Granada. However, during all of this, my nerves were fried. I have never been more anxious in my life.
We eventually arrived in Granada and visited the Alhambra, another incredible building. It was a nice visit and very relaxing. The area around it is beautiful as well, so we were able to spend some time outside and enjoy the weather. After the visit, we decided to go explore the city. This required driving. It was horrifying. Sarah is a great driver, so I had nothing to worry about, but I was all nerves. And of course we got lost again. We eventually found a parking garage (not like ours in the States, the parking spots are tiny!) and went to the cathedral. We visited La Capilla Real and saw the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella. I loved that because I have always been fascinated by their lives.
^^^The beautiful city of Granada
^^^La Alhambra
The way back to Sevilla went well and we returned the car without any problems. However, I had a small panic attack when I thought I lost my passport. Of course I was just overreacting and I eventually found it right next to me. The rest of the night was fine and we had a family (kinda) dinner at the hostel.
^^^On the way back to Sevilla
The next day was a calm day. We went on another tour, had a good lunch, and I ended up meeting with Becky again. That night we went to another hostel to have paella. We were invited by some people we met during one of our tours. It was a lot of fun, I met some other tourists from Wisconsin, and we ate on a terrace with a great view of Sevilla. All in all, it was a good day.
The next day we had to wake up at 4:30 to catch our flight back the Santiago. It was rough waking up then, but we made it back just in time for class.
It was a good trip. I loved Sevilla and I was very happy to see my friends, but I just hope my next trip does not include so many issues as this one.
(All the pictures in this blog were taken by Karen Rose, my camera died during this trip)
